IdeaFest

9th IdeaFest Business Pitch Competition - May 1, 2024

IdeaFest 2023 Winners

The Launch Place received 115 applications for its 9th IdeaFest Pitch Competition from various start-up companies located in the US and abroad. The top competitors took the stage to present their innovative business ideas at 2 Witches Winery and Brewing Company in Danville, VA on May 1, 2024. We are pleased to announce this year's winners!

9th Annual IdeaFest Awards

1st Place $5,000: MasRefund
2nd Place $3,000: Social Cascade
3rd Place $2,000: OsRostrum, Inc.
DEIC Clean Energy Bonus Prize $5,000: Scale Materials

IdeaFest is a Business Pitch Competition where 20 finalists pitch their startup idea to a panel of judges and a live audience. Winners of the competition are eligible to receive twenty-five hours of free business consulting from The Launch Place. The Launch Place, assists with business formation, job creation and retention through its business consulting services and investment funding, while having a dual responsibility to recruit and retain entrepreneurs to the Dan River Region. The IdeaFest competition exposes The Launch Place's services and funds to start-up companies that are ready to establish or seeking early stage capital. The Launch Place could potentially invest in the company from its Seed and Pre-Seed Funds.

Congratulations to the 9th Annual IdeaFest Finalists

TeachBase: Interactive planning software that brings all teacher planning materials to one platform.

Grain Fertility: Transformative application that empowers individuals seeking fertility treatment with personalized support and education, essential fertility services, and proactive care management.

Predicate: Innovating early sepsis detection with wearable biosensors and natural language processing (NLP).

LOOM3D: 3D weaving for apparel production. It is like 3D printing for clothing!

Solvacy: All-in-one AI powered digital marketing solution designed to optimize engagement and drive business growth to all of your social media accounts.

NIRSense Inc.: A medical device company developing advanced hemodynamic and human performance monitors for the Department of Defense that screen, monitor, and manage cardiometabolic disease patients.

Pool Protection Technologies: A device that actively kills and prevents algae without chemicals for pools.

Edenic Energy: Edenic Energy is using a Building Information Engine automating retrofit for outdated properties.

Target 2 Zero: Provides rapid event reconsolidation services for groups and individuals that helps reduce the pain and trauma associated with adverse events.

MasRefund: A bilingual SPanish English tax filing app that takes the fear and complexity out of filing taxes by making tax filing as easy as uno, dos, tres.

Social Cascade: AI-powered platform in reducing health disparities with strategic patient engagement & education.

Tada AI: Chat with internal company documents, automate customer support, and identify churn risk - all with the power of Tada AI.

Lukera: Revolutionizing hydrogen production with its cutting-edge smart alkaline electrolyzer technology.

CAC Tech Services Inc: Supports OEM’s, fleets and school districts and utilities to help meet their sustainability goals by helping to integrate zero emission drivelines and green technology.

Brokerbotics: Aims to democratize passive income from stock options for every investor using simple automation, better alerts, and sensible reporting.

AnswerThis: Leverages AI model pipelining to quickly and accurately retrieve information from over 200 million research papers and the entire internet to answer complex questions and make the rapidly expanding global knowledge base more accessible and efficient.

Scale Materials: Transforms industries with better materials.

Nessle: AI-powered parenting co-pilot that supports the parenting journey from fertility through the teen years that delivers curated resources for users.

OsRostrum, Inc.: PhIT (Phenomic Inference Technology) platform that combines patented 3D scanning, computer vision, and machine learning algorithms to help cattle farmers identify novel physical indicators of health and resilience in their cows.

equalityMD: Healthcare & data analytics platform that provides culturally competent care and actionable new insights to the LGBTQ+ community that restores humanity to the healthcare experience.

Many Thanks to This Year's IdeaFest Judges

Pat Gouhin, CAE, CEO, Angel Capital Association
Evans McMillion, Principal, Talkeetna; Former Founding Executive Director, 757 Accelerate, Inc.
Paul Nolde, Managing Director, 757 Collab; Executive Director, 757 Angels; Member, The Launch Place Seed Fund Advisory Board
Autumn Visser, Member, Corporate & Business Transactions and Emerging Growth & Venture Capital practice groups, Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black PLC; The Launch Place legal counsel
Tobi Walter, Tech Venture Capitalist, Cofounders Capital; Co-founder, Shoeboxed; Technology Entrepreneur, Former Investment Banker